MONUMENT ROAD

Influenced by Ann’s recent review of Charlie Quimby’s latest novel, Inhabited, I requested a review copy of Quimby’s earlier novel, Monument Road. Having now lived in Northern Nevada for more than six years, I am learning how the landscape surrounding our towns and cities is often a strong influence on how we [...]

THE ARCHER FILES, THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF LEW ARCHER, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR

Connoisseurs of 20th Century detective fiction regard the Lew Archer books by Ross MacDonald as the best ever written. The plots are original, the characters vivid, and the language is elegant and laced with occasional gems of sardonic humor on the part [...]

As I was reading and reviewing Paul Doiron’s first four Mike Bowditch mysteries for “Bookin’ with Sunny,” I was reminded of C. J. Box’s Joe Pickett novels. Both feature game wardens in their respective surroundings, Bowditch in Maine and Pickett in Wyoming. Both [...]

Heads up, readers! Summer is gone, fall is still falling, goblins have spooked, the really big bird has been eaten, and then – yes, Black Friday was yesterday, and now the winter solstice looms. It is high time to seriously shop for those holiday books. Quite by accident I came across what [...]

Imagine young Jack Kennedy as a spy, commandeered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill to innocuously roam Europe and uncover nefarious warmongering plots. Imagine Francine Mathews re-envisioning and fictionalizing Jack’s movements from New York to London to Rome to Val d’Isere to Danzig to Moscow to Prague to Warsaw and back. Jack Kennedy really [...]

Wayne Johnston, writing The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, fictionalizes the life of Joe Smallwood, a real-life twentieth-century Newfoundland politician. In so doing, Johnston presents a facetious romp through Newfoundland history. I suspect that most “Bookin’ with Sunny” readers know as little about the settlement and scenery of this distant island as I do, so this [...]

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

The Boys in the Boat is the most impressive piece of narrative nonfiction I’ve read in quite some time. The author, Daniel James Brown, recounts the rowing successes of a group of student athletes [...]

Reviewers for “Bookin’ with Sunny” are enthusiastic Todd Borg fans. Whenever he writes a new Lake Tahoe mystery, we line up; first to gain access to the novel, and second to see who gets to write the review. I always lose out to Sunny. Because publishers send her the books, she gets first dibs on [...]

The Round House, Louise Erdrich’s latest novel, foregrounds all of her considerable talents. Set on an Ojibwe Indian reservation in North Dakota, the story opens with a violent attack and rape of one the characters. The reader doesn’t see the horrific action, however. Instead, we are situated in the consciousness of the woman’s thirteen-year-old [...]

I confess. I like Lee Child’s Reacher novels. That’s like saying I like pulp fiction or dime novels or soap operas or comic books or romances. I know Bookin’ With Sunny generally concentrates on books that aren’t part of a series, books that stretch a reader’s mind and imagination, books that aren’t predictable, books that [...]

Do I read mysteries? That’s a question I’m often asked. I do, but not many. I love those “literary thrillers” by Matthew Pearl and just finished reading Rubenfeld’s Death Instinct, but I’m not sure about posting a review of it. Back in 2001, I was given a review copy of C. J. Box’s Open Season. [...]